After a failed rescue attempt and a withdrawn offer, the city of Caldwell is moving forward with plans to build a new restaurant and hangar on city property.
The city has hired Silverhawk Aviation to build a new hangar and restaurant on the south side of Caldwell Executive Airport at the site of the former Caldwell Airport Cafe.
The old cafe was in a farmhouse owned by the town. But the city began plans several years ago to demolish the restaurant and build something else, including new hangars, in its place. Although the owners campaigned to keep the restaurant open and collected over 1,000 signatures from the community, the city went ahead with their plans and the restaurant closed in February 2023.
The city then issued a request for proposals for project proposals and received several offers in 2022, including from Imagine Ventures and Silverhawk. However, Silverhawk Aviation Chief Operating Officer Brandon Sweeney said Imagine Ventures withdrew its proposal in 2023 and asked the city of Silverhawk if they were still interested in pursuing the project.
“We’re excited to give a little bit more back to the city of Caldwell,” he told the Caldwell City Council during a workshop presentation before its Dec. 16 meeting.
Sweeney said Silverhawk Aviation Academy is the largest flight school in Idaho and has a secondary campus in Ontario. He said his mother, the owner, is “not as concerned about the return on investment” of such a project.
“(The Caldwell Executive Airport) has provided her with a successful business for 27 years, and she wants to leave a legacy of giving back to the Caldwell area, the Caldwell Airport and paying homage to the airport cafe.”
What could be built?
Sweeney said his company envisions a new hangar and two-story building that would house a number of potential amenities, including a restaurant, cafe, office space and a pilot's lounge.
Sweeney showed the council two different renderings, but noted that he had made them himself and did not have a degree in architecture.
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Both showed a large hangar attached to a two-story building. Both buildings would feature “floor-to-ceiling” windows to provide public views of the airfield.
In the second rendering, the façade of the attached building appeared to use wood materials and Sweeney described it as “Caldwell Lodgey”. He said he preferred the second draft but asked the council for its opinion.
Sweeney said Silverhawk is saving photos and memorabilia from the original restaurant for the restaurant and plans to incorporate reused helicopter and airplane parts to decorate the new building.
Sweeney said if they secured a restaurant tenant early enough in the development process, the tenant could coordinate with the company on the development of the building. Otherwise, they would plan to build the restaurant portion of the building so that any restaurant could use it, he said.
Leasing aircraft? Mechanic school?
Sweeney said the hangar space could be used to rent or lease aircraft or house an aviation mechanics school.
He argued that the latter would fill a major need in the aviation industry.
“We usually hear about the pilot shortage … but the real deficit is that there are people working on these aircraft,” Sweeney said.
He shared a graphic showing there could be a shortage of 24,000 to 45,000 aviation mechanics by 2032. The industry needs about 272,000, he said.
Of the schools in the northwest, many have waiting lists of six to 18 months, he said.
Idaho currently has only one aviation mechanics school at Idaho State University in Pocatello, but the program only accepts 25 students per year, he said.
Sweeney said such schools must offer students a wide range of aircraft to learn from, which requires ample hangar space as well as millions in equipment such as hoists and sand blasters to work on the planes, he said.
“Silverhawk already has all of that,” Sweeney said, “so we think it would be a great synergistic use of the assets we already have while leveraging the space in a way that can give us a nice return on investment.” “”
“Nothing less than what we have needed for 20 years”
Caldwell City Council members made comments generally supportive of the project.
“When pilots land in Caldwell, they need services,” said Councilman Geoff Williams, “and what you are proposing here is probably nothing less than what we have needed for 20 years or more.”
Councilman Chuck Stadick asked why the project would not be incorporated into the building on the north side of the airport. Scott Swanson, executive airport director of aviation at Caldwell, said the south side is better because the vast majority of people who use the airport's services live south of it.
Council member Diana Register asked if it would be possible to incorporate a tribute to the woman who ran the cafe, such as naming the restaurant after her.
Sweeney said the woman made him sandwiches throughout high school. He said the company does not plan to sell the naming rights to the restaurant, but that it plans to display photos of the previous owner.